Veterinarian Dr. John Oullette of the Madison Veterinary Hospital discusses animal acupuncture in Q & A with Eyewitness News.

Eyewitness News: How long have you been doing acupuncture on animals?

Dr. Ouellette: I’ve been doing acupuncture for seven years. I was certified in acupuncture through the International Veterinary Society in 2000.

Eyewitness News: How did you decide to get involved in animal acupuncture?

Dr. Ouellette: It started with my own problems. I had a problem that caused me intense pain and the traditional treatment wasn’t helping and I looked for alternative treatments and after six years of suffering … I introduced myself to the alternative treatments and it helped, helped greatly.

'If it helps me,' I said, 'maybe I should look for an alternative for the (animal) patient who has exhausted all Western techniques: surgery’s not indicated; the patient is older; drugs may not be appropriate; steroids and some of the non-steroidals may aggravate the dog.'

Eyewitness News: When would an animal owner seek out acupuncture for his/her pet?

Dr. Ouellette: Well, this would be a collaborative effort between your regular veterinarian who reaches a point where he says, ‘I think acupuncture might be helpful for you. I’ve tried everything else. I’ve tried surgical, medical treatments, and now I think it’s time to try alternative treatments.”

Eyewitness News: Do you treat an animal with acupuncture before using the so-called traditional methods?

Dr. Ouellette: We do have to be careful that we don’t go immediately to acupuncture without a full diagnosis based in Western medicine. You don’t want to be treating an animal that has a crack in its spine when it should have surgery. Or a broken leg when it should have surgery. So we have to be very careful. We insist on having a good medical – western medical – work-up: radiographs, cat scans, MRIs as needed, bloodwork and ultrasounds, echocardiograms are all used.

Eyewitness News: What kinds of problems is acupuncture used for specifically? Pain?

Dr. Ouellette: It is used for pain -- that’s what it is well-known for. That is what it is most documented for. That’s what Western medicine – the scrutiny of Western medicine – understands the most about how the mechanism of acupuncture works, for pain relief, acute and chronic pain relief.

When you get into treating organ systems and other diseases – skin diseases – there’s a little more skepticism. But traditional Chinese medicine in which acupuncture is a part of has been around for 3,000 years. Let’s say it’s been field-tested for 3,000 years. And it’s only in the last 30 years when President Nixon went over and there’s more opening up of China that a lot of the Chinese medicine is being put under a magnifying glass in light of Western science. We’re trying to understand it. And yes, we’re trying to use traditional Chinese medicine, herbs, for treating other ailments, too: skin, internal organ problems, immuno-logic problems.

Eyewitness News: What’s a typical patient for acupuncture?

Dr. Ouellette: Most of our patients are … geriatric. And along with acupuncture, herbal medicine, chiropractic and physical therapy, we are able to help them live a pain-free, more mobile life in their old age.

Eyewitness News: Is it used to enhance performance in horses and show dogs?

Dr. Ouellette: It’s used in horses a lot to relieve these little aches and Pains -- muscular sports injuries. And it’s used in competing dogs. If you want to see if the performance will be increased and if he has slight pain, you know, going over hurdles or going around obstacles, it may be helpful

Eyewitness News: What does acupuncture cost and how does it compare to more traditional treatments?

Dr. Ouellette: Acupuncture can vary from $50 to $100 per treatment. It depends on what part of the country you’re in. I tell them (pet owners) at least to give it three acupuncture sessions and see if it’s appropriate for the patient. Medication, of course, if you’re on non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, that could cost you, also, $100 a month or more. So is it cost effective? A lot of times you need both. But acupuncture can reduce the amount of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories or other medications that the body needs.

Eyewitness News: What is the scientific idea or philosophy behind acupuncture?

Dr. Ouellette: Basically what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to establish a small amount of micro-trauma to a specific point on the body, which eventually sends a signal through peripheral nerves up into the spinal cord and finally up into the brain stem and the pituitary hypothalamic area. In turn, neurochemicals are released. They go back down through the spinal cord and in the case of pain, they actually … pain is inhibited at the spinal cord level from these afferent nociceptors.

That’s the well-documented part of the science, the neurophysiology behind the pain relief of acupuncture. What’s not so clear is what happens to the organs, what happens to the immune system -- we need more research on that -- and that’s happening.

It’s just an exciting field to take an ancient art form, a medical art form, and apply it to modern science.

Eyewitness News:What is an acupuncture point?

Dr. Ouellette: Acupuncture points are areas in the body which we find scientifically have a low electrical resistance and they also have this nociceptor, which is a free nerve ending which transmits pain. So most acupuncture points, the neuroanatomy of the area is they have a nerve ending, they have an increase of lymph vessels, they have an increase in capillaries and venules … and you get the best results when you needle those spots, or cause that electro-chemical cascade in the body. That's what you’re trying to initiate: You’re trying to treat big pain with little pain.

Eyewitness News: How do you know where to put the needles?

Dr. Ouellette: You basically write a prescription for the disease. We examine our patient and then we make up an acupuncture formula, a prescription of various points to try to alleviate the problem, to try to stimulate the brain to release the chemicals to say ‘we want to heal. We need some healing here. We need to go back to homeostasis. We need to go back to balancing.’

Basically we’re trying to stimulate nature to heal itself.

Eyewitness News: Does acupuncture work every time?

Dr. Ouellette: No, it doesn’t always work. And there’s many reasons for that and this is what we’re trying to find out. Has the disease stayed in the patient? Acupuncture’s not appropriate for every condition. It’s used in adjunct.

In traditional Chinese medicine, it’s used maybe 20 percent of the time … so, we want to pick our cases and so it’s not appropriate in every case.

Eyewitness News: How do you know it’s working? How do you know pain is being relieved?

Dr. Ouellettte: Better mobility, less anxiety in the animal, more range of motion.

Overall, people report their animal feels better and when the patient comes back for a third, fourth, fifth visit, they like it. They actually want it. They seem to enjoy it.

Eyewitness News: Do animals accept acupuncture easily?

Dr. Ouellette: It depends on the patient. Some patients are just not going to let you do acupuncture to them, but most do.

Eyewitness News: What do skeptics say about acupuncture and what do you think about their skepticism?

Dr. Ouellette: ‘It doesn’t work. There are better treatments for it. You could put a needle anywhere in the body and still get that effect.’ But this is where all the research is coming in.

We have to keep an open mind. It’s fine to be skeptical but as they say, ‘a mind is like a parachute -- it works better open.’

Eyewitness News: There are different types of acupuncture. There’s regular needle acupuncture. But what are the others? You have an electrical version?

Dr. Ouellette: We would hook the needle onto this (an electrical) clip, on the metal part so it would be metal to metal contact. We would adjust the dials on the device and put … a low level electrical current into the acupuncture needles and into the point.

Eyewitness News: So you use the regularly inserted acupuncture needles on the body for that one. Or you can do laser acupuncture, which is done without needles, correct?

Dr. Ouellette: Instead of using a needle, we will use this (a pen-like device with a laser beam coming off the tip). We would put this on every acupuncture point.

For more information, contact Dr. Ouellette at the Madison Veterinarian Hospital by dialing 203-421-3300